Learning to Breath Again/Crash and Burn
by Aerdwynn
Summary: This is a story about learning to live again. Well, it's really a songfic. It occurs a while after Sephy's defeated and Cloud goes back to Aeris's...err...watery grave. R&R Please!


This is my first songfic. Umm, originally it didn't have any names and it was a girl mourning over a lost love when a stranger came who understood. But I changed it around to be Cloud and how he felt after Aeris died, with some comfort from Tifa, though it doesn't say her name. It's kinda sad, all the things on here I post seem to be gloomy! I wish I could try and make them happier, but I just aren't very good at funny stories, sorry. I also don't have anything against Aeris, actually I like her better than Tifa, and I also like Sephy, but that's okay.  
Oh yeah, also, I don't own Cloud, Tifa or Aeris. I don't own Savage Garden and their song Crash and Burn. Or anything else that may be mentioned here, but I do own the storyline! ;-) Till next time, read, write, review and be merry!  
  
~Aerdwynn  
  
When you feel all alone  
  
Cloud sighed, he better do this or he would never learn to move one with his life. He walked down to the water's edge where he had laid her to her final rest. He felt so alone, it wasn't fair. She had been so innocent...  
  
And the world has turned it's back on you  
  
Maybe it would have been better just to give in, let it all go. It wasn't like anyone cared, did they? No, they never did. It would be their fault that they hadn't heard his cry for help.  
  
Give me a moment please, to tame your wild, wild heart  
  
He froze, fingers trailing in the water's edge where he sat. Someone was coming. He could hear the footsteps. He didn't want anyone here, to find him mourning. He hid his head in his hands - slender fingers moving to cover the crystal clear tears falling, falling oh-so-silently by her watery grave.  
  
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you  
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder and tried not to move though he wanted to run far away and never come back. To escape. To never be trapped and alone again. Ever.  
  
It's hard to find relief, and people can be so cold.  
  
He slowly turned to see the face attatched to the comforting hand and paused at the understanding that shone there. It was more than anyone had ever given him, that simple look of understanding and not pity. All the sympathies and questions had just made it worse.  
  
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore  
  
He turned back away. What did it matter? It wasn't as if she really cared or actually understood. It was just another lie. Like all the others in this game of life.  
  
When you feel all alone  
  
He was back to where he had started. There wasn't anyone out there who could heal this pain of lonliness. It just got worse with the days. The sight of friends who felt bad for him were all around, but they just didn't understand. *They* weren't alone. They all had someone they could run to. He didn't - she had been slain like so many others under that gruesome sword.  
  
And a loyal friend is hard to find  
  
He heard her sit beside him. Strangely enough, she didn't offer any sympathies, as all the others had. Maybe someone finally understood what it was like to lose a love, a friend and confident. A person close and inside your heart.  
  
You're caught in a one-way street with the monsters in your head  
  
The tears had finally stopped falling, but his face was still wet. Is there no way to just leave it all behind, to be able not to think about her? Ever again...Why can't I just escape this pain?!  
  
When hopes and dreams are far away, and you feel like you can't face the day  
  
He turned back to the woman still sitting by him and looked into her eyes; his crying out that he couldn't do this, couldn't go on with his life. Hers pleading and informing him that he could live on, that he had to.  
  
Let me be the one you call, if you jump I'll break your fall  
  
He fell hesitantly into her arms, crying; finally letting go of it all. It felt so good to finally have someone understand and *not* tell him how he had to feel, how he should just leave it all and forget.  
  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
  
She stroked his hair as he cried on her shoulder. She knew exactly what he was going through. The pain, the lonliness. She had been there, done that. Sometimes it was easiest to cry it all out with someone. Nothing else worked. She wondered why as he started to calm down from his silent tears.  
  
If you need to fall apart, I can mend a broken heart  
  
He looked up into her eyes. The eyes that were the first to actually understand what he was going through as he stopped crying. Slowly, very slowly, yet very definately his heart began to free itself from the oppressing chains of lonliness and guilt.  
  
If you need to crash, then crash and burn - You're not alone  
  
He watched as she smiled gently at him and then looked over the water as it sparkled and glittered in all it's glorifying beauty. And he realized something; maybe he wasn't quite as alone as he had thought before. Maybe, just maybe he could learn to live again.  
  
Because there's always been heartache and pain  
  
He nodded to himself at the thought. I guess I might not be quite as alone as I thought. Maybe, just like this person here, next to me by this lake as crystal clear as tears, others have felt the way I do. The lonliness, despair ... heartache and pain.  
  
And when it's over you'll breath again. You'll breath again.  
  
He shut his eyes quietly, peacefully and smiled for the first time in what seemed like centuries. He would   
live again, love and laugh again.  
He would breath again. 


End file.
